September 13, 2011: The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has issued a $10,000 forfeiture order to Taylor Communications, licensee of WOXD-FM/Oxford, MS, saying Taylor did not report a malfunction in the lighting of an antenna structure, and also failed to make a public inspection file available when agents requested it.
In 2008, the bureau's New Orleans office responded to a complaint of violations at the antenna structure. Agents who inspected the 328-foot tower found that, 90 minutes after sunset, none of the tower's red obstruction lights were working.
The next day, agents went to the main studio with WOXD's president and its chief engineer and asked for a look at the public inspection file, but the station was unable to find it; the station president alleged that the file had been stolen by a former employee. The engineer said he knew the tower lights had been out since a lightning strike about six weeks before, but said he didn't think the FAA needed to be informed since a taller tower nearby was lit. The agents told the president and engineer to notify the FAA immediately, and the station president said tower lighting repairs had already been paid for and parts ordered.
The New Orleans office in November 2008 issued a $13,000 notice of apparent liability to Taylor Communications, $3,000 of that for the tower problem and $10,000 for the missing public inspection file. Taylor responded with a request that the forfeiture be reduced or canceled.
Taylor said in its response that it called the published local number for the FAA before the inspection, but the number was not in service, and pointed out that the FCC agents had no local number for the FAA other than the non-working one. Based on Taylor's good-faith effort to comply with the rules, the bureau reduced that part of the forfeiture to $2,500.
The bureau declined to let Taylor off the hook for the missing public inspection file, but reduced the remaining forfeiture to $10,000 from $12,500 based on the company's history of compliance with FCC rules.
In a separate matter, the FCC has denied a petition for reconsideration filed by Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting, license of three stations in Rawlins, WY. Mt. Rushmore was issued a $17,500 forfeiture order in 2008 for failing to ensure EAS readiness at KRAL-AM and KIZQ-FM and for various other violations.
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